The Prisoner's Dilemma
by Blaxis
Summary: Modern AU. Have you ever thought which one of your friends would cover you up if you ever committed a murder? Honestly, neither did I, but that was until Alma came to us one day, his clothes covered in a blood that was obviously not his. "Guys, I think I did something stupid..."
1. Chapter 1

**Disclamer: D. Gray-Man belongs to Katsura Hoshino; this is a work of fanfiction, not for profit.**

 **Theme song: Linkin Park - Blackbirds (RIP Chester, you will always be in our hearts.)**

 **Watch out for the sudden flashbacks! Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 ** _I_**

Have you ever thought which one of your friends would cover you up if you ever committed a murder?

Which one?

Would it be the one who tends to ditch you for any girl?

Would it be the one who is a grumpy dude who counts every penny you owe him?

Would it be the one who cheats and manipulates in the slightest game because he is obsessed with victory?

Or maybe...

* * *

Have you ever thought which one of your friends would cover you up if you ever committed a murder?

Honestly, neither did I, but that was until Alma came to us one day, his clothes covered in a blood that was obviously not his.

"Guys, I think I did something stupid..."

* * *

 **2014/ 5.45 pm**

 _It was a lazy day in which the gang decided to stay indoors and play video games._

 _Allen was sitting, a bottle of juice in his hands, watching Kanda and Lavi as they bickered while playing FIFA. Beer was served but Allen did not fancy liquor much, mainly because of his godfather's bad habits which die hard._

 _It was the first weekend that followed the end of their exams; eyes lost on the turning ceiling-fan of the room, Allen's mind wandered to the harmony and peace he was feeling at the moment. Never in his life had he thought that he would be blessed with friends who were ready to give up on everything for him. Having went through difficult middle school years induced with bulling, the white haired young man and his father decided to leave their past behind them and move elsewhere for a fresh start. His highschool debut in a new town was nothing like he expected it to be; despite the prestigious look and reputation of the Black Order highschool, it revealed to be a place full of delinquents and mentally instable people._

 _From a clumsy science teacher that blows up an entire building, to a sis-con headmaster who happened to be a robot-freak; from vampire-wannabe to a babe walking around with a monkey. And from ; however amongst that bizarre crowd, Allen found his own bizarre people: a samurai-looking hothead, a womanizer, a teddy-bear made by grandma and a smartass._

 _It was a fine day, in the company of his bestfriends, which was not going to be ruined._

 _Or so he thought._

 _None of them bothered to look up as the door was locked open and quietly closed; it was obviously Alma as no one but him and Kanda had the keys of the place, since they were roommates. However, when Alma did not loudly greet them as he usually did, all of them turned their gaze toward him, and what they saw was going to change their lives forever._

 _There, seeking support from the door frame, stood a blood covered Alma who was panting._

 _"Guys, I think I did something stupid..."_

* * *

 **2017/ 3.14 pm**

"...and that person is now missing for three years. We have strong reasons to believe that one of you four killed him." The blond man whose hair was tied in a long braid said as he walked before the standing suspects. "Considering your apparent friendship it is certain that the remaining three are aware of it, and surely know where the body is."

An hour prior, various police officers fetched Allen Walker, Alma Karma, Yu Kanda and Lavi Bookman from their respectable workplace without being given an explanation. However, the four friends understood what this was all about when they faced each other in the police department.

They were now suspected for their deed of three years ago.

Allen's eyes travelled on the room; they were standing in the main room of the homicide unit. It was a plain and unappealing room like the ones he used to see on crime TV shows; white, garnished with desks on which were scattered messy folders and papers. On the desk right in front of them sat a green haired man, who Allen guessed was a detective, given his clothes: a trademark cheap suit and gun holster. Standing by that man was a well built sergeant whose hands were resting on his hips, whereas his eyes were busy sending them a hard look.

The white haired young man threw a discreet eye on Lavi who was standing next to him. The redhead was nervous. No, he was _too nervous_ ; his hands did not stop shaking as unwanted sweat drops ran down his face.

"Your degree of implication doesn't matter; I appeal to your common sense. You either denounce the murderer or the inspector will get _all of you_ down for the murder." The blond said, emphasizing on the last sentence by raising his brow.

Everyone's faces turned to the left as a deep voice cut in, echoing with approaching footsteps, "And the inspector is me!" Wearing a black suit and white gloves, the well-built owner of the voice entered the scene.

"Let me introduce myself, I am Malcolm C. Lvellie the inspector who is in charge of this case, and this is the assistant inspector Howard Link." He said, introducing the blond man who was previously speaking. The inspector did not bother beating around the bush and went straight to the point.

"I adore this kind of cases;" He expressed, opening his palms as his eyes analyzed the suspects, "however, they are sadly easy to settle. We begin to interrogate the weakest of the group and place each one of you in a different room, and in the end you will denounce each other. Now, Assistant Inspector Link, please find the weakest." His voice was clear and loud, and a little bit too arrogant.

How could he be so sure that they would end up denouncing themselves?

Assistant inspector Link hovered over them like an avid vulture."You," he finally said, nodding in the direction of Lavi who jerked, "come here."

* * *

 **2014\. 11.03 pm**

 _They had just finished burying the body and were still standing there as if they were asking forgiveness for their sin; despite the dark, he could distinguish the tired faces of his friends. An ounce of fright was also present in their unstable breathing._ _But that was a normal reaction after doing something that could get them imprisoned for the rest of your life._

 _"When we will face the police," Allen said, tightening his hold on the shovel._

 _Lavi squealed, throwing the shovel on the ground. "Don't say that!"_

 _"We definitely will, even if it takes years." Allen clarified, annoyed of the interruption the redhead made. "So, when we will face the police they will definitely want to interrogate the weakest one of us, who is–"_

 _"Me." Alma said with much disdain._

 _Kanda scoffed, shrugging, "Yeah, it's you."_

 _"It will evidently be you." Lavi confirmed._

 _"We can't let that happen, it will be too risky." Allen explained, "Lavi, you will act as the weakest. Never ever look at them in the eyes and try to look nervous; this way the strongest one of us will pass for the weakest."_

* * *

The first step toward their freedom was taken; everything was going on smoothly, _'Just like planned.'_ Allen thought, closing his eyes.

Suddenly, Lvellie's eyes fell on Allen. It was as if he had not seen him when he first stepped in, but then it clicked. "No wait," he said, stopping Lavi and the officers surrounding him from leaving the room, and Allen looked up to the inspector.

A dreadful mistake.

Lvellie smiled. "Take that one instead." He pointed at Alma to the officers who executed the given orders.

Allen clenched his jaw as Alma, who was being escorted out, sent him a distressed look. Following Alma's leave, the other three were taken to different rooms of interrogation.

The interrogation went on for several hours; Alma, Kanda and Lavi had all given the same version of the events of that day: they had stayed in-doors playing video games, never leaving the rented flat.

Their words of denial were chosen carefully, and uttered calmly; sometimes their voices would rise up involuntarily when faced with an accusation, and sip of water was enough to calm them down –but that wasn't the case of Kanda Yu.

The redheaded lawyer spoke of their infringed rights at which Howard Link laughed. Lvellie had guessed right, Lavi Bookman was the strongest of the four friends, and perhaps the smartest. The ins and outs on the three suspects went on, but no apparent confession was near, so inspector Lvellie took his next step.

Interrogating Allen Walker.

Allen watched as the door went open, revealing the Hitler-looking inspector who walked-in in a firm demeanor, and trotting behind him like puppies were the assistant inspector and the green haired detective.

Lvellie sat across the suspect; with crossed arms and legs, and a stretched moustache, the brown haired man shared a long sizzling eye contact. The inspector was, without doubt, very clever and sharp-minded. All it took Allen was one single look to analyze a person, and at the very moment that Lvellie entered, Allen knew that danger was looming.

"You surely know the prisoners dilemma, right?" Lvellie said after a moment. Allen kept calm, and watched with amusement as his silly moustache moved with his unusually thin lips.

Very unsymmetrical, Allen thought. Was he a Hitler wannabe?

"No." He answered without missing a heartbeat.

"Are you sure?"

* * *

 **2014\. 12.01 am**

 _Throwing the shovels in the back of the car, the four friends rode Kanda's car and closed the doors behind them._

 _"The prisoner's dilemma." Allen said, his gaze lost in the horizon as Kanda retorted,_

 _"The what?"_

 _" This is what they're going to use, the prisoner's dilemma..."_

* * *

Clearing his throat, Lvellie said, "The principle is simple."

* * *

 _Allen ran his hand through his hair and explained, "The principle is the following..."_

* * *

"While all the players are isolated in different rooms, I propose to them the same deal: if you denounce the others and they don't denounce you, you are free to go and they are charged with murder. Whereas, if you don't denounce them and they denounce you, they are free and you will take all the charges. Lastly, if you all denounce each other, all of you will have a lightened sentence." Lvellie clarified as he leaned on the chair. "It's simple."

* * *

 _"So if I understood well," Kanda said after Allen finished his explanation, "If we denounce, we have either a lightened sentence or are free. If we don't denounce, we have either a maximum sentence if one of us denounces the others, or..."_

 _"Or we are all free because no one spoke." Allen finished, locking his orbs with Kanda's._

* * *

"You have surely concluded that if none of you talks, you will all be free, but do you know _why_ the prisoner's dilemma is infallible?" Lvellie asked, each word uttered with mischief. " _Because of the lack of communication."_

Allen's eyes narrowed.

"Isolated, the players have no contact. None of you can know if someone already denounced the others."

Through the whole ordeal, neither their eye contact, nor Allen's silence were broken. Link shivered under the tight atmosphere of the room; the two men were fighting through unspoken words.

In his entire career, inspector Lvellie had never met an adversary like Walker before; however it did not feel too unpleasant to face a strong enemy. Allen Walker was giving him a reason to fight back with everything he had; he had brought back the passion and intensity that Lvellie hadn't felt for a long time.

Leaning on the table, the inspector resumed, "Let me give you my hypothesis: it was Alma Karma who committed the murder, I think that Lavi Bookman was the hardest to convince to cover it up, and of course it was your idea. You were the mastermind." Saying it, Malcolm could not hide the excitement present in his voice, and that made Allen smile to himself.

"It was Kanda Yu who drove the car and Bookman provided equipment, such as shovels and all. Logically, you must've buried the body in a forest in the middle of the night. What do you think of my deductions?"

Being met with another silence that did nothing but confirm all his words, the inspector took his copybook and exited the room, making his way to where Kanda was held captive. The brown haired inspector entered the room making a ruckus. He pulled the chair, sat and threw the copybook on the table.

Kanda had been standing the entire time, going back and forth. The sudden and loud entrance of the inspector surprised him; the Japanese man knew he hated Malcolm the moment he laid his eyes on him. It wasn't because he was the inspector who wanted to jail his childhood friend, but it was because he reminded him the fucking Moyashi too much.

"It's over." Lvellie said, "Your friends have denounced themselves and you by the same opportunity. So do you want to talk?"

Kanda laughed nervously, shoving his hands in his pockets, "That's impossible."

The inspector shrugged and opened the copybook he had thrown on the table and spoke of his deductions while running his index finger on the lines, making it as if he was reading.

"Let's start with Lavi Bookman's confession: It's Alma who committed the murder, Allen convinced us to hide the body in a forest. I was the one who provided the shovels while Kanda drove to..." He stopped, eyebrows up , "Do I finish?"

The Japanese man stood, his mouth agape. Satisfied with his trick, Lvellie stood up and made his way to the door. "It's up to you." Link informed, right behind his superior.

"Wait..." Kanda said, and then paused for one last moment.

"Okay I will talk."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **-A short two-shots that I easily wrote and decided to post (i'm joking, i'm just running away from my other fictions, hahaha) -**

 **Hello everyone, thank you for taking time to read the first installment of TPD! Next chapter will be posted next week, what will happen? Will Kanda blow their cover? :D**

 **Anyhow, I was too lazy to edit so, my apologies if you fall on some errors. Thank you again, and some feedback will certainly be appreciated.**

 **See ya next week~**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclamer: D. Gray-Man belongs to Katsura Hoshino; this is a work of fanfiction, not for profit.**

 **Theme song: Linkin Park - Papercut (cause in two days it will be his one month death anniversary, and I'm still mourning.)  
**

* * *

 ** _II_**

"Should I call someone? I mean the others must've called a lawyer to talk right?" Kanda asked running a hand through his hair.

Lvellie looked at Kanda... something was off.

Naturally Link spoke, "Yes–" and Lvellie interrupted, "NO!"

* * *

 **2014\. 11.36 pm**

 _"_ _If you ever want to denounce yourself–"_

 _"_ _No one will fucking do!" Kanda spat._

 _"_ _I said if u ever." Allen resumed, "If you want to do it, make sure to do it without calling anyone. Without a lawyer."_

 _Lavi asked, "Why?"_

 _"So that if the inspector tells you that someone denounced, all you have you will have to do is ask if they called a lawyer to know if they are bluffing."_

* * *

Smiling, Kanda sat, "I have nothing to say."

As soon as the three officers exited the interrogation room in which Kanda was held, Link expressed his emotions through hitting the door hard, "Shit!"

"Are you stupid or what?" Exclaimed Madarao.

"Don't tell me you saw through it." Link retorted dryly then turned to the inspector, "You think they will talk? They are just like five fingers of a hand!"

For a moment, Link felt as if Lvellie got lost in his gaze; he went still. Then a second later a smile appeared on his face as he nodded. Lvellie led the two officers to Alma's room. They found the supposed culprit sitting, looking as nervous as they had left him earlier.

"You are free, you can go home." Lvellie declared as soon as he opened the door.

"What?" Alma asked, shocked.

"We are now sure that you are innocent."

A smile of relief adorned his face immediately, "And the others?" Alma said automatically, hopeful.

And Lvellie threw his joker. "The others are charged for murder, moreover we know that they got you involved in this story by force, but it's over now, don't worry."

Something shattered inside of Alma.

In that exact moment, he finally felt the weight on his shoulders and understood in what he had involved his friends.

"Oh, you must be in a state of shock, its normal." Lvellie said, faking concern when Alma suddenly got up of his seat. "Officers please escort him." And turned to leave.

"It's me," Alma finally confessed, making the inspector stop in his tracks.  
Yes.

"It's me, I did everything on my own... they know nothing of it."

"Where did you hide the body?" Lvellie asked.

* * *

 **2014\. 6.30pm**

 _After Alma changed his clothes and handed them to Allen in a plastic bag, the trio was getting prepared to leave._

 _That whole set up was Allen's idea, his plan._

 _As far as Alma remembered, Allen had always been a skilled tactician whose plans never failed. The white haired man had once confessed to Alma when they were still teenagers that all those skills were an accumulation of years of sufferance with the debts of his godfather._

 _"North of the Mahraj forest above the river," Allen declared, gaining everyone's attention, "That's where we will hide the body."_

* * *

"North of the Mahraj forest above the river..." Alma said, eyes lost in the horizon. This was where it all ended... at least his friends we'll be set free.

"Did you hear?" Lvellie said to Link and Madarao who quickly ushered out of the room to do the necessary, then he smiled, "Thank you.

Allen Walker was defeated.

Lvellie sat, his eyes glittering with mischief, "You played pretty well, but you lost. Checkmate." Allen's face was as blank as ever, but that did not bother him. "You planned everything, but it is surprising that you didn't foresee your friend denouncing himself out of friendship..."

For one single second, Lvellie had believed seeing the corner of Allen's mouth twitching.

"Very surprising..." Lvellie whispered.

* * *

 _"North of the Mahraj forest above the river, that's where we will hide the body." Allen said, then turned to Alma, "Go bring the keys."_

 _"But where is this Mahraj forest?" Lavi asked, his head buried in his backpack._

 _Checking that Alma was out of eyesight, he whispered, "It doesn't exist, I just invented it, that's not where were going."_

 _Kanda's eyebrows met each other in a furrow, "What?"_

 _"He will surely want to denounce himself at one point out of friendship, so he must, under no circumstances, know the address. Without a body, his confession won't worth anything." Allen explained._

* * *

"Are you fucking with us?" Madarao shouted as he broke open the door of Alma's room, "This forest doesn't exist!"

"Where is the body?" Link echoed behind him, hitting the door.

Alma's eyes went wide. What?

When that ruckus reached Lvellie's ears, he couldn't help but look at Allen in awe.

Everything was becoming clearer.

"Checkmate." Allen said, smiling.

* * *

 **2017\. 5.28 pm**

The four friends made their way out of the homicide unit floor; Allen walked behind Lavi, he was sure the latter had asked for the reason they were suspected and noted in his mind to ask him later.

It was when he reached the door that the white haired young man remembered the black leather copybook Lvellie had in hands. Allen stopped in his tracks and turned around one last time to face the officers of the law, who were all glaring at him.

 _"_ _You surely know the prisoners dilemma."_

Indeed, the prisoner's dilemma is infallible. In absence of communication the players always end up denouncing each other; it's infallible…unless...

The white haired young man threw them a smile, and took his leave.

 _'_ _Unless we cheat.'_

* * *

 **2014\. 5.45 pm**

 _"Guys, I think I did something stupid..."_

 _The four college students, who were chilling, fell silent at the sight of Alma._

 _The playing remote fell off Lavi's hand as Kanda cursed under his breath, "Fucking shit..."_

 _Perhaps at that moment, Allen's mind was already plotting a plan to save everyone's ass, while Link, who was holding a beer can in his hand, sank in his seat as he thought of the shit that was going to ensue._

* * *

 _"_ _None of you can be sure that no one has already denounced them."_

Except if they had a system of communication, a signal that reassures them that no one has talked; and that was through the loud hits of Link and the silent smiles of the culprits.

* * *

Have you ever thought which one of your friends would cover you up if you ever committed a murder?

Which one?

Would it be the fuckboy who tends to ditch you for a girl?

Would it be the grumpy skinflint who counts every penny you owe him?

Would it be the cheater who cheats and manipulates in the slightest game because he is obsessed with victory?

Or maybe the loyal who despite everything will never let you down?

* * *

 **2014\. 6.46 pm**

 _Everything was packed and ready and the five friends were making the leave, then suddenly, Allen stopped at the door and hastily looked up at his friends; their faces were drained of their natural colors. He turned to Link and asked,_

 _"Hey Link, does it tempt you to join the police?"_

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And we reached the end! I hope you guys enjoyed it.**

 **Back to the disclaimer: I don't own the storyline, Wil Aime does. it was inspired from his short film of the same name, Le Dilemme du Prisonnier, that you guys _must_ watch! The story is acutually more complex than this and it contains several chapters, respectively: L'accident - Comment lui Déclarer ta Flamme, Re, l'Art de la Tromperie, les Liens du Sang, Comment Sortir de la Friendzone, le Dilemme du Prisonier, and lastly l'Art de la Tromperie 2. You should watch them all to clearly understand the whole story (that still contains many plot holes as it is not finished yet.)**

 **I did not mention this in the previous chapter because it would have spoiled the story. At first I was going to write one long chapter, but I got lazy and made it into two chapters. I originally wrote it to come out of my block, but i blocked with it again as it was in my computer for almost two months. When I watched the short film, my mind went directly to Allen and i was like: it could work... and it did.**

 **So concerning the anonymous review saying that I claimed the idea as mine, you are wrong. I just postponed the credits in order not to spoil, moreover I asked for permission from the owner of the story himself to write this fiction.**

 **Anyway, enough talk, and thank you everyone who liked, followed and reviewed this story! See you soon with a new chapter my other DGM fic, Echo of Noise.**

 **Thank you!**


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